Valeria's secret investigation to find her mother's murderer leads her to Alias Black, the most infamous hitman in the kingdom. As the unlikely pair slowly crack the case, they unravel a truth they never could have imagined—not even in their darkest nightmares.
Plot
This story, at its heart, is a murder mystery so there is a lot of investigations and scenes of questioning suspects. As a result, the plot moves a bit slower than I expected when I picked up this book. There are some great plot twists and exciting moments, but it takes a while to get there. I also struggled to understand some of the intuitive leaps the characters made in their investigation.
Characters
The main character, Valeria, is an interesting protagonist. She had a fascinating internal struggle, between finding her mother’s murderer and working with the kingdom’s most infamous hitman. My favorite part of the novel was watching this conflict play out. She and “Alias Black”, the hitman, also have a unique relationship on the page that was fun to watch.
Setting
I struggled to feel settled into the world of this story. At times, I got the sense that it was in a victorian-era setting, but later mentions of phones and polaroids left me feeling confused. The author obviously put a lot of work into her world, based on the detailed districts of the city and the intricate network of characters. Unfortunately, the pieces just didn’t come together to form a cohesive picture for me.
My Recommendation
My Brother’s Spare is the debut novel of author Shira Behore. The novel features an exciting female protagonist, with a compelling internal conflict. The plot does move slower than I expected, but on par with other murder mysteries, It’s worth waiting it out to get to the exciting plot twists near the end of the story. The author put a great deal of work into putting together details about this world, but I struggled to get a clear view of what that looked like.
